UK team designs human mission to Mars

July 24, 2013

(Credit: BBC)

Scientists at Imperial College London have designed a concept mission to land astronauts on Mars. The plan envisages a three-person crew journeying to Mars aboard a small two-part craft, BBC News reports.

The craft would rotate to generate artificial gravity and use a heat shield to protect itself against solar flares. The crew would then return to Martian orbit in a pre-sent craft fuelled using ice from beneath the planet’s surface.

The concept, developed in conjunction with the BBC, is intended to spark further debate about the technical obstacles and risks that would have to be overcome in order to put humans on Mars.

Gorden, I was of the same mind until I heard this subject being discussed on BBC radio today. Their ‘expert’ was saying the next window of opportunity for such a mission would be 2018. Even given the recent advances in robotics, it would seem a tall order to have them ready in time (presumably, they’d need to be mission-ready a few years beforehand).

As far as costs go, a ballpark figure of £5-10 billion was mentioned, so this would need to be a collaborative effort involving several countries.